Yetis, Cannolis, and Mango Green Tea-A WILD NIGHT AT ANIMAL KINGDOM PAGE 38 NEW 1/16

Great trip report so far. Can't wait to hear more. Your family sounds like a lot of laughs. :rotfl2: Your poor dad...all those women!!!!
 
Hi Heather...great start! :thumbsup2 Can't wait to hear more! BTW...I can relate to the packing situation. My DH just shakes his head about the packing because I'm always right around the 50 lb. limit. :confused3 You have to be prepared for EVERYTHING, right? :)

Thanks!! Glad you're here! You do have to be prepared for everything. And what if you get a Mickey Ice Cream Bar on your shirt when it drips, you have to change when you get back to the room, right? There's two shirts in one day, ya know? Well, that's how I justify my disease anyway...

Great trip report so far. Can't wait to hear more. Your family sounds like a lot of laughs. :rotfl2: Your poor dad...all those women!!!!

Thanks!!!:lmao: Did I mention that both my dogs are male? That's how my dad evens out the boys to girls ratio. :lmao:
 
OMG we are definately the 3 hours early people (we have to be at least 2 anyway as it's Transatlantic!) I would be totally freaking out leaving it that late :eek:
 
OMG we are definately the 3 hours early people (we have to be at least 2 anyway as it's Transatlantic!) I would be totally freaking out leaving it that late :eek:

Hey, Jo! I guess I should mention that we don't live in a huge city or anything so it takes less time to get there and it's a small airport, but still.... I don't blame you on that one. Even the calmest of us were quite on edge.
 


Hey, Jo! I guess I should mention that we don't live in a huge city or anything so it takes less time to get there and it's a small airport, but still.... I don't blame you on that one. Even the calmest of us were quite on edge.

Albuquerque isn't big???? to me it's huuuuuuuuuuuge!!! :lmao:
 
I thought I'd give you guys a quick little update to get you through the morning.

I was only home for a mere five days from college before we left for the World. That did make my planning a little less thorough than it has been in the past. The area that fell subject to needing last minute adjusting- our LGMH. This is my first year where I even knew what they were and had a clue what to do with them. We had a bunch! Ladle and I had soaked them, as Dippy so astutely suggested, removed them from their backing and glued them back to back. The original plan was to get them laminated, but that just did not happen. So we packed our Sharpies and huge rolls of Tear-by-Hand tape in our carry-on bags so that we could get them ready for use.

Southwest has seats three in a row so that means that we don't all sit together. Ladle and I like to sit by the window so we trade off who gets to sit there. On the plane ride to the World, it was my turn to sit in the middle. :p I'd like to insert a little story here because it's related and it's funny. I'm not sure what trip this was or where we were even going to be honest. Ladle and I were sitting together with me at the window and Ladle in the middle. Down the aisle comes this man who immediately stares at us and will not stop staring. No offense, but I don't particularly want someone like that sitting next to Ladle or myself. As he gets closer, we devise a plan. We decide to act really odd so maybe he'll bypass us. We start grunting to each other and flailing about so maybe we look like unruly children. We know how to play the "We look young" card. Here we are grunting and acting rude and this little old lady comes and sits next to Ladle before the guy even got there.:laughing: ::insert laugh here:: Apparently we weren't too weird for that lady! Maybe she thought she could keep us in line.

This trip, we actually picked who we were sitting next to. This was because we were like the last of the A boarders so we picked a nice-looking lady to sit by. As I've mentioned this is a three and a half hour plane ride. It's kind of hard to stay amused for that long. Well, after take off, Ladle and I ate our soup which was quite aromatic. I think that's why the lady sitting next to us jumped up off the plane so quickly when we landed. Or maybe it was because, after that, we pulled out our LGMH and prepared them. We each wrote our name on one of the sides and dated them 2007. After they were all labeled, we pulled out the tape. You know that really noisy tape that cracks when you pull it, yeah, that's the kind. So we taped up all our LGMH and I had scissors in my suitcase to cut them to size later. Or maybe the lady was in such a hurry to leave us because we spent the rest of the ride watching old episodes of The Osbournes which were incredibly funny and we did laugh out loud. Anyone else remember that show with Ozzy and family? Or maybe the lady left so quickly because Garco came over and asked for our other portable DVD player and when he grabbed it from me, dropped a piece on her head. Whoops! Whatever the reason, the lady sitting next to me this trip did not seem to want to stick around very long...

So finally we arrive in Orlando. Land of Mickey Mouse!:woohoo: And we landed about twenty minutes early which made us arriving in Orlando at about 7:50pm. We walk over to my personal favorite part of the MCO airport experience- the tram to baggage claim. When I was 9, first going to the World, I thought that was our first ride. Anyway, oddly enough MCO was actually fairly on top of things. We got our baggage rather quickly. All bags accounted for, we head off to car rental.

Why is car rental always so awful? You have a reservation, but that doesn't really mean that anything moves any more quickly. Luckily, a couple years ago, they put in chairs across from the car rental places so Ladle and I were able to sit by all our luggage instead of stand and lean against it. From the moment we were at baggage claim, there was this announcement: "Paging Mark Smith, Mark Smith press zero on a courtesy phone for message." So we were walking to car rental and see this guy with his ipod on and we joke, "That must be Mark Smith." Ladle and I take a seat while Sally Shine and Garco go to get our car squared away. Ladle and I see "Mark Smith" walk by several times jamming out to whatever is on his ipod and they are still paging this Mark Smith guy. Was it really him? We like to think so.

With our six bags, we need a big car to haul them around in. We usually end up with some huge boat car which works just fine. We have not had the best luck with rental cars in the past. Last year alone, we first were assigned a tiny car with not even enough room for three of our bags, we asked for something else and they gave us a car with plenty of room, but it was completely empty of gas, so we ended up with the third car. This year we were assigned a Chysler Pacifica where the third row of seats folds down to give us plenty of room for our luggage. We get in and take off and we're pretty excited that it seems there is nothing wrong. Then we see the light. The light on the dashboard that has now just lit up telling us that one of our tires is low in air pressure. Sheesh. Can't just work right now, can it? But that's not such a big deal, we'll just talk to the person at the exit gate and ask them where we can fill it up, right? Wrong. There is no person at the exit gate so we just have to leave the airport.

And we're off. We have directions, but something about the freeway right out of the airport is really confusing. And who is the on the phone? Sally Shine of course. That leaves Garco to navigate and drive because we are sentenced to silence in the back seat so as not to disturb the phone conversation. Somehow we end up in some little town. Obviously a wrong turn somewhere, but really good news in the end because there is a gas station. Garco airs up the tire and gets us some new directions from wherever we happened to be.:confused3 Does Sally Shine know what's going on? We have no idea. We head off in the right direction and we know it's the right direction because we start seeing those great Disney billboards advertising attractions, rides, shows, etc. Garco, Ladle and I are quietly getting really excited and finally Sally Shine gets off the phone to join us in our excitement.

After a long day of stress and travel, we end up at POP- our home sweet home for the next week. At check-in, we find out that we are in the 50s!:woohoo: Now that is really exciting! We are always in the 80s or 90s which is sooo far away from the food court and the buses. This is truly a good omen for the trip. We got two rooms, adjoining, on the third floor in the third building which is right above the bowling pin pool. After getting all our luggage hauled up to the rooms, we head off to our traditional arrival night dinner. Yes, people, every arrival night, we eat at Perkins just outside the Disney property at Crossroads. It's kind of the thing that tells us we are finally here and vacation can start. This year's Perkins diner did not disappoint. Tons of coffee and tasty hash browns, plus, I got a muffin to take with me to eat the next morning.

After dinner, we head back to the hotel for some good sleep before our first day at the parks. Ladle and I unpack first because it's only around 9:30 pm, New Mexico time so we're not tired quite yet. In fact, it took us a really long time to get to sleep, but nonetheless, tomorrow is Magic Kingdom early entry and you can be sure we'll be there bright and early.
Even Pal Mickey felt relaxed at POP.
IMG_0839.jpg


Okay, so maybe not such a "quick" or "little" update. Next up: Magic Kingdom/Epcot.
 
We walk over to my personal favorite part of the MCO airport experience- the tram to baggage claim. When I was 9, first going to the World, I thought that was our first ride.
My kids think this is their first - and sadly, last - ride also of our trips! :laughing: Probably a lot of kids think that. I like that ride as it really gets me "in the mood" for Florida!
 


I pre booked my aeroplane seats for our August trip months ago, no strange people next to us :rotfl2:

DD loves your photo!
 
My kids think this is their first - and sadly, last - ride also of our trips! :laughing: Probably a lot of kids think that. I like that ride as it really gets me "in the mood" for Florida!

I'm so glad I'm not the only one! I like it too because when you head outside, that humidity hits you and you know you're there!
 
I pre booked my aeroplane seats for our August trip months ago, no strange people next to us :rotfl2:

DD loves your photo!

That's great! Southwest Airlines doesn't do assigned seats so we have to hope for the best... Aye. Tell DD thanks!!;)
 
Thanks!! Glad you're here! You do have to be prepared for everything. And what if you get a Mickey Ice Cream Bar on your shirt when it drips, you have to change when you get back to the room, right? There's two shirts in one day, ya know? Well, that's how I justify my disease anyway...



Thanks!!!:lmao: Did I mention that both my dogs are male? That's how my dad evens out the boys to girls ratio. :lmao:

You're totally missing my disease. IF you get a Mickey bar on your shirt you pick out an awesome shirt at the nearest gift shop and change it in the bathroom. You won't even have to make a trip back to the resort!:rotfl:

DH wasn't happy that I got him a girl dog for Valentine's Day years ago because it messed with the testosterone to estrogen ratio.
 
You're totally missing my disease. IF you get a Mickey bar on your shirt you pick out an awesome shirt at the nearest gift shop and change it in the bathroom. You won't even have to make a trip back to the resort!:rotfl:

DH wasn't happy that I got him a girl dog for Valentine's Day years ago because it messed with the testosterone to estrogen ratio.

Oh my gosh! That is a GREAT idea! I'm totally going to remember that for next time!!!!
:lmao: I'm glad you pushed the ratio our way!
 
A couple days before our trip, Ladle realizes she has no shorts that fit. Why she didn't think of this sooner, I have no idea. Just happened to be that JCPenny was having a great sale so we headed down there and bought some clothes, some matching, because, as I said, it is funny to mess with people's heads with this whole twin thing. Well, our most prized purchase was a pair of shorts that were called, and I kid you not, it is on the label, Fancy Pants. I do not have pictures of us wearing them because, for some reason, I do not have pictures of that first day in the parks. Odd. Anyway, I wanted to show them to you as they were very popular throughout the parks. We pointed out all the Fancy Pants we saw over the trip. It was incredible.
And so, without further ado, I give you... FANCY PANTS!
fancypants.jpg

Now, mine were a lovely purple motif whereas Ladle's were a lovely blue motif. And thus is born our first matching outfit.

Another purchase at JC were these really cute tank top-ish shirts. Two for $12 I believe so how could we get just one??? I definitely have pictures of this shirt, but I think I'll leave you in suspense until I get to that point in the trip.

My roommate in Chicago had recently given me a jean skirt that was too small for her. Well, it ended up being a little too big for me so I took it home in hopes that Ladle could wear it. I pulled it out and asked if she wanted it and she says, "Hold on." She goes to her room and comes back with the exact same skirt but a size too small for her. Now this was not planned people, but...Voila! We switch skirts and thus is born our second matching outfit.

I know this didn't have anything to do with our trip, but I had to include it.
 
OMG! If I wore those "Fancy Pants" my "Fancy ****" would be hanging out all over! :lmao:

:lmao: I should mention that they come in a variety of styles. Capris, Bermudas. You name it, Fancy Pants has got it!
 

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